Tuesday, February 24, 2009

No pass for Amnesty International in World Affairs

Amnesty International has called for a world wide weapons embargo against Israel, and for good measure, tacked on Hamas as well. The Jerusalem Post has a decent opinion piece on it even if I do feel the calls of impending doom are a trifle simplistic:

Yesterday, Amnesty International, the world's premier "human rights" brand, called for the destruction of Israel. We're overdramatizing? Were AI to get its way, the UN Security Council would impose a comprehensive arms embargo on the world's only Jewish state - but not on any of the 22 member states of the Arab League, or on Iran. Over time, Israel would find it impossible to defend itself against conventional or WMD threats stemming from hostile states or Palestinian and Islamist terror organizations.

The pretext for the embargo call was the IDF's campaign in Gaza to compel Hamas to end its bombardment of southern Israel and cross-border aggression. Over the years, Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in terror attacks. Apparently spearheading AI's anti-Israel crusade is the group's "principal researcher on Israel/Occupied Palestine," the London-based Donatella Rovera.

Though Israel purchases arms from dozens of sources, AI's boycott call is really aimed at the Obama administration: "Israel's military offensive in Gaza was carried out [largely] with weapons, munitions and military equipment supplied by the USA and paid for with US taxpayers' money," claimed Malcolm Smart, AI's director for the Middle East.

Either to simulate evenhandedness, or perhaps because it really is blinded by moral relativism, AI perfunctorily called for a weapons embargo against Hamas. It thus appears incapable of distinguishing between Israel and Hamas, between victim and aggressor - between an albeit imperfect Western nation which values tolerance, representative government, rule of law and respect for minority rights, and a medieval-oriented Islamist movement which mobilizes Palestinian masses to hate, teaches its young to glorify suicide bombers, and inculcates a political culture wallowing in self-inflicted victimization.

The naivety of AI is what I find most astounding. This is an organization which allegedly investigates some of the most repressive totalitarian regimes in the world but has so little idea how real geopolitics is really played in the big world. Furthermore, calling for the defunding of the Israel by the US will not make the Israelis complacent enough to lie down and die while their neighbors arm themselves to the teeth. As far as I know, Hamas has not received even one AK-47 through legal channels. If Israel is not to be funded per say - why should the US taxpayers be forced to pick up the bill from the Palestinian Authority? How long does Amnesty International expect the Palestinian Authority to last once US support is withdrawn? And if Israel is to be subject of a world wide arms embargo, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Israelis take a very heavy hand approach in the disputed territories in order to neutralize the ability of the Palestinians to cause them any harm in both near and future. I know I would and I doubt it would even take a full seven days if the Israeli gloves came off.

Calling for the US to stop funding and supplying the Israeli military with arms would mean no more joint Israel-American military research projects and no more would the US have a stake and a ear on what the Israelis are coming up with. The United States would loose all her diplomatic trump cards; therefore, the US’s ability to apply heavy handed influence on any Israeli policy or arms deal would be removed. Hello India, bye-bye Pakistan. And with the US out of the picture, just who do you think will come calling to do deals? Even after the Turkish Prime Minister had his temper tantrum in Davos Turkey still wants a deal and Russia was most impressed on the effectiveness of Israeli drones and has been clamoring for a deal. Even if you could get past the American UN veto on the security council - what is to stop China or Russia from missing an opportunity to get a piece of the Israeli pie?